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I recently acquired a set of used “Arieltek” nav light/strobes (not LED). They appear to be a copy of the standard old style Whelan lights made by Arieltek in Brasil, look exactly the same, same mounting holes, etc. I was looking at the various new LED offerings, but none of them are drop in replacements for the old style lights (except Whelan’s expensive TSO’d units). The builder of my Hatz never installed lights, but he built the light mount pads as part of the wing tip bows, and ran the wiring through the wings (but only two wires, I need three more for the strobes). I have no documentation with the Aerieltak lights, though I sent them an email and hope they will respond.
Do the strobe wires need to be shielded? ACS sells “Whelan strobe wire” which is 3 conductor 18GA cable, but their website doesn’t say whether it’s shielded. OTOH, they also sell “Whelan cable installation kits” including wire and connectors, and on that page they say the wire is 16GA shielded.
I was hoping to use the original wiring to pull new wiring through, but the builder did things right and the wiring is secured at intervals along its run. So instead, I’ll keep the original wiring for the nav lights and run new wires for the strobes. Any thoughts on the best way to run the new wires through the already covered wings? Fortunately it’s the upper wing so I don’t have to worry about interfering with the aileron linkages.
The existing wires run to the center section at the rear spar where they’re coiled up, no doubt the builder intended to run them down the rear cabane struts. The fuel lines are secured to the front of the struts, my thought was to run some tubing (alum or plastic?) down the back of the strut and put the wires inside, but it’d have to be at least 3/8ID to get the .275 dia cable into plus the two additional wires… or perhaps I should just run five loose wires from that point?
I have no intention of flying at night, but the improved visibility and being legal if I get home just a little bit late will be nice.
Do the strobe wires need to be shielded? ACS sells “Whelan strobe wire” which is 3 conductor 18GA cable, but their website doesn’t say whether it’s shielded. OTOH, they also sell “Whelan cable installation kits” including wire and connectors, and on that page they say the wire is 16GA shielded.
I was hoping to use the original wiring to pull new wiring through, but the builder did things right and the wiring is secured at intervals along its run. So instead, I’ll keep the original wiring for the nav lights and run new wires for the strobes. Any thoughts on the best way to run the new wires through the already covered wings? Fortunately it’s the upper wing so I don’t have to worry about interfering with the aileron linkages.
The existing wires run to the center section at the rear spar where they’re coiled up, no doubt the builder intended to run them down the rear cabane struts. The fuel lines are secured to the front of the struts, my thought was to run some tubing (alum or plastic?) down the back of the strut and put the wires inside, but it’d have to be at least 3/8ID to get the .275 dia cable into plus the two additional wires… or perhaps I should just run five loose wires from that point?
I have no intention of flying at night, but the improved visibility and being legal if I get home just a little bit late will be nice.
